Journalism and freedom of expression trials: Week of March 1

This week, the hearings of several journalism and freedom of expression trials will be held. Below is the list of these hearings:

March 1st, 2022

• The third hearing of the trial where journalist Cihan Ölmez faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court, at 11:10. Journalist Ölmez was in Cizre at the time when a city-wide curfew was in place and gave interviews on the grave human rights violations in the region during the curfew. The indictment presents the news reports which contained his statements on human rights violations during the curfew and which he also had shared on his social media accounts back in 2016, as evidence against the journalist. The indictment also defines media outlets such as Evrensel daily and bianet as “so-called med,a outlets” and claims that they “support PKK/KCK.”
• The fourth hearing of the trial where journalist Mete Cem Bahtiyar whom MLSA represents in court, faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Balıkesir 3rd High Criminal Court, at 15:15. The indictment presents social media posts shared on an account claimed to be belonging to Bahtiyar between 2015-2018. A tweet which displays the cover photo of one of philosopher Slavoj Žižek’s articles which he had penned for sendika.org are among the social media posts which are cited as evidence.

March 2nd, 2022

• The third hearing of the trial where journalist Ahmet Kanbal faces “disclosing or publishing the identity of a public official on anti-terrorist duty and identifying such persons as a target” and “insulting a public official” charges will be held in the Aydın 3rd High Criminal Court, at 14:30. The indictment was prepared after the criminal investigation launched per complaint by Musa Çitil against Eren Keskin and Artı Gerçek reporter Yağmur Kaya.  The indictment by the Aydın Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office cites a tweet Kanbal had shared on this personal account in which he quoted the interview with the Co-chair of the Human Rights Assocation (İHD) Eren Keskin about specialist sergeant Musa Orhan who sexually assaulted İpek Er and drove her to suicide. In his tweet, Kanbal had recalled that Musa Çitil stood trial on similar charges in the 1990s. At the first hearing of the trial held on December 10, 2021, the prosecutor presented his opinion and requested that Kanbal be sentenced for  “disclosing or publishing the identity of a public official on anti-terrorist duty and identifying such persons as a target.”

March 3rd, 2022

• The 21st hearing of the trial where since-shuttered Özgür Gündem newspaper’s editors-in-chief Hüseyin Aykol, Zana Bilir Kaya, managing editor İnan Kızılkaya and politician Hatip Dicle face “publicly degrading the government, the judiciary or the police force” and “publicly degrading the Turkish nation, the Turkish Republic and the Parliament” charges will be held in the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:45. The indictments present the news articles published in the newspaper as evidence against the defendants.
• The second hearing of the trial where academic Hifzullah Kutum faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Elazığ 2nd High Criminal Court, at 09:20. The indictment presents 15 tweets and retweets which include the words “Kürt [Kurd]” and “Kürdistan” as evidence against the academic. The indictment dated November 8, 2021 was prepared five days after Kutum was reported to the police and an investigation was launched. Kutum was taken into custody on November 5th and was arrested on November 6th. After spending four days in detention, Kutum was released on November 10th.
• The 14th hearing of the trial where Azadiya Welat and Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspapers’ distributors Mikail Tunçdemir and Ferhat Duman face “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charges will be held in the Van 5th High Criminal Court, at 09:00. Tunçdemir and Duman stand trial due to news reports published in 2018 in the papers which they distributed.
• The second hearing of the trial where journalist Namık Koçak faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the İstanbul 22nd High Criminal Court, at 11:40. The indictment presents social media posts Koçak had shared on his personal account between 2015 and 2020 as evidence against the journalist.

March 4th, 2022

• The 39h hearing  of the trial where since shuttered Taraf newspaper’s former administrators Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar and Yıldıray Oğur, reporter Mehmet Baransu, and Aktüel reporter Tuncay Opçin face “establishing or managing a terrorist organization”, “procuring documents concerning the security of the state with other intentions than damaging, procuring or stealing or using said documents outside their intended purpose”, “securing classified information relating to the security of the state, disclosing classified information relating to the security of the state”, “terrorist propaganda” and “disclosing information or documents that, due to their nature, must be kept confidential for reasons relating to the security, or domestic or foreign political interests of the State” charges will be held at İstanbul 13rd High Criminal Court, at 10.00 am. In the 276 page indictment, the prosecutor requests imprisonment for Baransu up to 75 years.
• The 16th hearing of the trial where journalist Rüstem Batum whom MLSA represents in court, faces “publicly denigrating the state’s military and law enforcement personnel” charge pursuant to Turkish Penal Code’s notorious Article 301 will be held in the İstanbul 43rd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:30. Batum faces the charge for statements he made during a TV appearance on journalist Ayşegül Doğan’s programme on İMC TV in September 2015.